Saints up to second

Saints 4, Exeter 0
Saints have been squandering early chances almost as a matter of course in their recent games, and the match with Exeter was no exception: Lallana was guilty of an early miss, apparently blinded by goalkeeper Jones’s garish outfit.
Sometimes we pay for such profligacy, but this was to be a good day for the team after a lucky ricochet sent Do Prado clear, and he finished with a Brazilian finish. Guly was in the team because of Barnard’s continuing absence; Hammond was missing through illness, and Jaidi was another absentee, but he first half performance suggested that Saints were quite capable of keeping the Grecians at bay.
The task of winning the match was made much easier when some quick thinking by Richardson set up a race between Chamberlain and the full back in which there was only going to be one winner. Chamberlain’s cross was perfect to find Do Prado with space and time to finish easily, and when Lallana‘s attempted cross also found its way in, there was the potential for the floodgates to open fully.
Saints could have ended up with the proverbial hatful, but our players often created their own bad luck in front of goal, with the normally reliable Barnard (on for Do Prado) as guilty as any. The substitute did eventually give the scoreline a more realistic feel when a cool head enabled him to complete the scoring deep into added time.

LSSC Man of the Match: Richard Chaplow. This was a surprisingly difficult one to decide: the defenders had next to nothing to do, but our forwards really did miss a succession of sitters. At least it’s a chance to welcome Chappers to the permanent staff at St. Mary’s.